Pennyweight

How pennyweight is used to calculate the value of gold

Pennyweight is a unit of measurement widely used in the jewelry industry. It comes by its name as it represented the weight of one British penny which contained 1/240th of a Troy pound of Sterling Silver. The weight of one British penny is equal to 1/20th of a Troy ounce. Therefore there are 20 pennyweights to one Troy ounce.

GoldFellow® uses pennyweight to weigh all precious metals – gold, silver or platinum. But, grams are also used to weigh precious metals. However, since there are 31.1 grams to a troy ounce and most consumers are more familiar with 28 “food” grams to one ounce, weighing and pricing precious metals in pennyweights is less confusing and an easier calculation.

It’s easy to view the gold prices GoldFellow® pays everyday by pennyweight for scrap gold by clicking the link above or the words “Gold Price” below. While GoldFellow® lists the current gold prices it pays everyday by pennyweight, the gram price is also provided. By selecting “grams” on GoldFellow’s® scrap gold estimator and entering “1.0″ into the weight column for each karat, you can easily see the converted price per gram instead of pennyweight. When using the gold value estimator to calculate the value of your jewelry, make sure you use the same unit of measurement (pennyweight or grams) you used when weighing your jewelry on a jewelry scale.

And, here’s an interesting fact: a US penny doesn’t weigh “1″ pennyweight. It actually weighs 1.6 pennyweights or 2.5 grams. The abbreviation for pennyweight is DWT.